Sri Lanka wins civil war, says kills rebel leader

By C. Bryson Hull and Ranga Sirilal

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka declared total victory on Monday in one of the world's most intractable wars, after killing the separatist Tamil Tigers' leader and taking control of the entire country for the first time since 1983.

In a climactic gunbattle, special forces troops killed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran as he tried to flee the war zone in an ambulance early on Monday, state television reported.

Prabhakaran, 54, founded the LTTE on a culture of suicide before surrender, and had sworn he would never be taken alive.

Army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said troops had crushed the last Tigers resisting an offensive that has in less than three years destroyed a group that had cultivated an aura of military invincibility while earning many terrorism designations.

"We have liberated the entire country by completely liberating the north from the terrorists. We have gained full control of LTTE-held areas," Fonseka announced on state TV.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had already declared victory on Saturday, even as the final battle in Asia's longest modern war was intensifying after the last of 72,000 civilians held in the war zone had been freed.

The LTTE conceded defeat on Sunday. But it has long warned it would intensify guerrilla attacks on economically valuable targets if defeated on the battlefield, something which has hindered growth in Sri Lanka's tourism sector.

The end of combat and Prabhakaran's death sent the currency and stock markets to one-month and seven-month highs respectively.

COUNTING BODIES

The final act played out on a sandy patch of just 300 sq meters (3,230 sq ft) near the Indian Ocean island's northeastern coast, where the military said the last Tiger fighters had holed up in bunkers guarded by land mines and booby traps.

More than 250 Tigers corpses were recovered, and Fonseka said checks were underway to see if Prabhakaran's was among them.

Already, the body of his son and heir-apparent, Charles Anthony, and two top lieutenants, intelligence chief Pottu Amman and naval wing leader Soosai, had been identified.

State TV showed several bodies, including that of Charles Anthony.

The LTTE had no immediate comment. Independent confirmation of battlefield accounts are all but impossible, since the war zone has been sealed off to most outsiders.

Officially, the military has not confirmed Prabhakaran's death. Rajapaksa is expected to do so on Tuesday in a speech to be broadcast nationally from parliament.